Where's the Square?  Q & A Page

Key questions from competition entrants

QUESTION: Where can I drop off my completed entry?

Please see our Submitting Completed Entries page for details on mail and drop-off locations.  Please remember that entries are due no later than 5:00pm on Friday, March 20, 2009.

QUESTION: Can I submit than one entry to the competition?

Yes.  Multiple entries are allowed - provided each entry fulfils the requirements outlined in the Design Brief.  Separate Entrant Forms are not required for each submission; however, a short note on the Form (or in an accompanying email) that lets us know you're planning on submitting multiple entries would be helpful.

QUESTION: Is there a requirement for the submissions to be anonymous?

Judging takes place in two phases - the first review of all entrants and then the short-listing.  Prior to first review judging, all distinguishing marks (names, team names, logos, etc.) will be removed from the design submissions.  Entrants can facilitate this process by (1) ensuring their names/team name/logo is nominal in size and positioning and not overlapping with the design, or, (2) removing the names, logo, etc., from the submission all together.  (Remember, your disk and files will be labelled so we'll know that the drawing is yours!). 

Short-listed entrants will be asked to submit printed and mounted A1 boards of their design and will be asked to remove all distinguishing marks.

QUESTION: I don’t want my work to know that I am submitting, can I do it anonymously?

Yes, anonymous entries are allowed.  But, please read on!

As part of the Entry process, all participants must submit a completed Entrant Form.  Information contained in this form is not shared with anyone other than the VPSN’s Where’s the Square team. 

Design ideas that are submitted to the WTS Competition will all be assigned a unique number.  Entrant names, logos and other identifiers will be removed – so as to ensure a fair and honest judging process. 

Entrants whose work is short-listed will be required to submit their designs on boards.  As part of this, they will also be required to omit any distinguishing names or logos.  Again, this is to ensure a fair judging process.
 
Finally, in the event that the winning Entrant – of either the jury-selected or “people’s choice” award – wishes to remain anonymous at this point we will respect that. 

On the other hand, we kind of hope that you’ll want to share your fame with your place of employment, not to mention the city at large!

QUESTION: Can I submit an entry for several small neighbourhood based spaces instead of one big square?

While we understand the desire for lots of smaller gathering places around the city, the “Where’s the Square?” Competition is concerned with generating ideas for a grand gathering place – with specific spatial, social and related design requirements.  Regrettably, designs for multiple small spaces will be disqualified. 

QUESTION: Do you have any base maps available?

The Vancouver Public Space Network is not providing base maps as part of the competition.  Entrants wishing to source GIS (or other) base maps should consult the web for various retailers.  Basic maps are also available via Mapquest and Google, and the City of Vancouver also provides online GIS mapping via VanMap.  The City also has a page of links to various maps which may be helpful: www.vancouver.ca/maps.

QUESTION: Can I use different visualization and  presentation techniques that are easier to understand?  My project will present best as slides assembled and somewhat animated...

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QUESTION: We were wondering if the plan and section were fixed requirements or if they could be substituted with an axonometric drawing.  We are planning our layout and are considering an axonometric drawing in lieu of the plan and section because this may better represent the design ideas.

We have received a few requests for the opportunity to present concepts using alternative media – slides, photographs, different types of perspective drawing, etc.

The WTS Design Brief lays out the requirement that Entrants must submit one Plan View and one Section View.  These two perspectives, along with the other required materials (e.g. written summary, contact list, etc.) are required of all Entrants.  The reason for this is that we want to ensure that our judges have a common set of materials with which to compare submissions.   We also want to make sure that the competition is accessible to a broad range of designers – including those that might not have access to the latest design and presentation software.

That being said, the Design Brief does allow additional materials.  On page 3, the Brief further sets out that the total number of images (including Plan view, section view and supplemental images) must be formatted to take up no more than three boards in total.

In the case of the request to submit an axonometric drawing, we would consider this a potential supplemental illustration - but not a substitute - for the plan and section views.

ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTALS ALLOWED

We would encourage all Entrants to stay within the requirements set out in the Design Brief.  However, if you want to submit additional supplemental materials you will not be penalized for doing so.   We are making this allowance in response to Entrants who have expressed a desire to submit a more ‘complete package’ that includes other pictures and materials.

Please note, however, that there are a few important provisos that go along with this:

  1. There will be no “extra points” for additional supplemental materials – the Evaluation Criteria is based on the requirements set out in the Design Brief.
  2. Additional material cannot be comprised of any ‘in person’ presentations, etc.  In other words, these ‘extras’ need to fit on the same CD/DVD that the rest of the presentation will be submitted on.  Moreover, additional supplementals should be clearly labeled as such (i.e. as a separate file) so they don’t get confused with your main submission.
  3. In the event of short-listing, there is no guarantee we will be able to provide space for the supplemental aspects of your presentation.  Please work hard to ensure that your design idea conveys well within the format set out in the Design Brief

In other words, we’re happy to receive your extras – but it’s the main Submission Criteria that count.